Sixteen Charged with Narcotics and Money Laundering Violations

April 3, 2010 - Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced that a federal grand jury sitting in Cleveland, Ohio, returned a 32-count, 16-defendant indictment charging:

Francisco M. Felix, Jr. aka “Junior”, age 40; Jesus A. Tavizon, aka “Choobie”, age 39; Kevin L. Locastro, age 35; Joseph E. Salvano aka “Buck”, age 60; Richard E. Hodges, III, age 28; Kyle Hodges, age 24; Rebecca Komlosy, age 36; David A. Price, age 26; Phillip A. Fondale, age 58; Joseph S. Dinardo, II, age 40; Anthony J. Brown, Age 23; Matthew V. Ellison, age 34; Bradley M. Hess, age 33, Geoffrey R. Gordon, age 38; Juan L. Rosario, age 27; and Thomas J. Madal, age, 41, with violations of the federal narcotics and money laundering laws.

Count 1 of the indictment charges 15 of the 16 defendants (excluding Komlosy) with conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute and conspiracy to distribute at least one thousand or more kilograms of marijuana.

Counts 2-26 of the indictment charge 15 of the 16 defendants (excluding Richard Hodges, III) individually with the use of a communication facility (a telephone) to facilitate a drug trafficking offense.

Counts 27-31 of the indictment charge Locastro, Felix and Tavizon with traveling in interstate commerce (to and from Arizona) to facilitate the conspiracy to distribute marijuana.

Count 32 of the indictment charges Locastro, Felix, Komlosy and Tavizon with conspiracy to commit money laundering.

If convicted, the defendants’ sentences will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendants’ prior criminal records, if any, the defendants’ roles in the offenses and the unique characteristics of the violations. In all cases, the sentences will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases they will be less than the maximum.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert F. Corts following a one-year investigation code named “Scooby Snack.” The investigation included several Title III wire taps on the cellular telephones of Kevin Locastro and Francisco Felix. The investigation initially targeted local members of the marijuana Drug Trafficking Organization that operated out of Strongsville, Ohio and Cleveland, Ohio, but ultimately uncovered a large scale, multi-person conspiracy to distribute marijuana, which extended to Arizona and Mexico. The investigation revealed that Locastro, residing in Strongsville, and Salvano, residing in Cleveland, along with Richard Hodges, III, of Akron, would arrange for large quantities of marijuana to be brought to Cleveland and Akron, Ohio, from the Arizona area on a monthly basis by Arizona natives Felix and Tavizon. Thereafter, Locastro, Hodges, and Salvano would sell the drugs to Kyle Hodges, Price, Fondale, Dinardo, II, Brown, Ellison, Hess, Gordon, Rosario, and Madal and others in the greater Akron, Strongsville, and Cleveland, Ohio, area.

The investigation also revealed that Locastro and Komlosy would deposit, at the direction of Felix and Tavizon, the proceeds of the drug operation into bank accounts here in the Northen District of Ohio, and Felix and Tavizon would withdraw the proceeds in Arizona. This was done to avoid currency transaction reporting requirements under both state and federal laws.

Furthermore, Tavizon and Locastro would use either the U.S. mails or commercial carriers to ship drug proceeds from Ohio, to Felix in Arizona.

The investigation was conducted by agents and task force officers of the Northern Ohio Law Enforcement Task Force (NOLETF). The NOLETF is a long standing multi-agency task force comprised of investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cuyahoga Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation (IRS), Cleveland Division of Police (CPD), Cleveland Heights Police Department (CHPD), Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Euclid Police Department (EPD), Lake County Narcotics Agency, Regional Transit Authority (RTA) Police Department, Willoughby Hills Police Department, and Shaker Heights Police Department (SHPD). The NOLETF is also one of the initial Ohio High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) initiatives. The HIDTA Program supports and helps coordinate numerous Ohio drug task forces in their efforts to eliminate, or reduce drug-trafficking in the State of Ohio.

An indictment is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government's burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.